Surrey docked points for ball tampering

Surrey have been docked eight Frizzell County Championship points for tampering with the ball during their match with Nottinghamshire earlier this month.

The England & Wales Cricket Board will deduct the county a further nine points if they are guilty of a similar offence over the next year.

Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon said: "This whole incident has been a huge disappointment to the club and it wishes to offer a full and final apology to everyone who has been affected.

"The firm and decisive action taken indicates how seriously the ECB and the club have treated the case."

Nottinghamshire convincingly won the match at The Oval by an innings 71 runs, although the win was overshadowed by officials starting a probe into ball tampering by the hosts.

Umpires Mervyn Kitchen and Nigel Llong spotted the quarter seam of the ball had been lifted, prompting Surrey chairman of cricket Micky Stewart to conduct an inquiry and send a report to the ECB.

No individuals were identified in the report submitted, although the ECB accepted the county had made every effort to identify the culprit or culprits.Sheldon added: "It clearly shows our determination to ensure that this cannot be tolerated in the game.

"We can now draw a clear line under the whole issue and put the matter behind us."

It remains unclear what the punishment would be if a player was found guilty of ball tampering.

The only precedent is from last year when Sussex's Mohammad Akram, now with Surrey, was given three disciplinary points for contravening law 42.3, which governs the condition of the ball.

A statement from Gerard Elias QC, who is the chairman of ECB discipline standing committee, read: "The report submitted to me (which I accept) indicated that despite their best efforts, no individual had accepted responsibility and they were unable to identify the culprit/s.

"The report indicated the club's intention to apply its own internal disciplinary procedure to reflect the serious view the club takes of such a blot on its reputation and that of cricket in general.

"The Surrey club apologised for the actions of the player or players concerned."